16
University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Wednesday, July 16, 1986
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The wife and heirs of Challenger co-pilot Michael Smith have filed a $11.1 million wrong-death death claim against the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and former rocket manager Lawrence Mulloy, the university said yesterday.
NASA spokesman David Garrett said that the claim was received July 3 at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., the center responsible for the booster rocket that triggered the Jan. 28 explosion that killed Smith and six other astronauts.
"The claim is currently being analyzed and it would be inappropriate to comment at this juncture relative to the specifics of the claims," NASA said in a prepared statement.
The claim, a copy of which was released by the space agency, said Smith "was thrown about in the spacecraft and in the few seconds preceding his death, knew of his impending death."
The claim alleged that negligence of NASA employees "was the sole proximate cause" of Smith's death.
Jane Jarrrell Smith, Smith's wife, said after the Rogers Commission report on the accident was issued last month that NASA used a shuttle to clear debris clearing the shuttle for launch Jan. 28 in unusually cold weather.
"The report reflects incredibly terrible judgments, shockingly sparse concern for human life, instances of officials lacking the skills to conduct their responsibilities of their high office and some very bewildering thought
processes," Jane Smith said.
The claim, filled on a standard government-claim form, said the NASA officials, including astronauts known that the booster rocket joint-seal that failed would not properly seal.
The claim also said the officials knew or should have known that cold weather could contribute to the seal failure and that previous flights had demonstrated the seals were not working properly.
The document also alleged that the officials disregarded the advice of engineers that the shuttle would likely blow up if it were launched under the conditions that then existed, and that they withheld all pertinent information from the astronauts.
And it alleged that the officials "were otherwise careless and negligent prior to and at the time of the launch of Challenger."
The claim, which listed NASA and Mulley individually, asked for $100,000 for personal injury and $15 million for wrongful death.
Mulloy headed the booster-rocket project at the time, but has since been reassigned.
In addition to Mully, the document also cited James Kingsbury and George Hardy, other Marshall officials; L. M. Weeks, deputy associate administrator for space flight; Jesse Moore, then head of the shuttle program; "and many others associated with them and with the Johnson and Marshall space centers."
Under the heading of witnesses, the claim said: "Several thousand people at the Kennedy Space Center watched on others of others watching on television."
Voyager airplane breaks 3 records
MOJAVE, Calif. — The spindy, fuel-similar airplane Voyager and its two weary pilots landed at dawn yesterday on a desert airfield after 111 hours of flight without stopping or refueling, unofficially shattering aviation records for distance and endurance.
The Associated Press
The 11,857-mile flight by the experimental craft, virtually a flying fuel tank with two engines and a small space for the plots, was a prelude to an attempt in September on a non-stop flight around the world.
The lightweight, long-winged craft skimmed most of the runway before pilot Dick Rutan, 46, finally settled it onto the ground, ending a flight that began Thursday at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Several hundred relatives, friends and fans cheered the landing at MAIrport Airway, 75 miles northwest of Riyadh. The group doused Rutan and co-ploit Jeana
Organizers of the flight reported an 11,600-mile closed-loop flight over the Pacific between San Luis Obispo and San Francisco to the National Aeronautic Association, which is responsible for certifying records. The group also include 270 miles flown outside the loop between the two airfields.
Pilot collapses after marathon flight
Yeager, 32, with champagne.
If certified, the plane's endurance run will break the previous record of 11,337 miles, set in 1962 by Air Force Capt. Bill Stevenson, who flew a B-52 bomber powered by eight jet engines in one loop around North America.
The long hours in cramped quarters consisting of a one-person cockpit and a tiny sleeping area took their toll on Ratan and Yager.
At a news conference, Yeager fainted into the arms of their flight
surgeon moments after commenting about Voyager's constant engine noise.
"We were having trouble with the noise, the fatiguing level of the noise, the vibrations — our heads (are) still kind of a roar right now." she said
George Jutila, flight surgeon, said that Yeager suffered from simple fatigue and was revived quickly.
Asked if she were ready for the 'round-the-world flight, Yeager replied, "Can we wait till tomorrow?"
Rutan said that despite the length of the flight, they always had something to do.
"There really isn't time to sit back and have a casual conversation," he said.
Rutan said he planned to have better sleeping pads and sound insulation installed in the rear of the plane.
where the pilot who isn't at the controls spends off-hours. Voyager's only seat is in the cockpit.
The Voyager crew is claiming to have set also two other world records.
On Monday, after 95 hours aloft, the plane set a world record for non-mileage flown by a piston-engine aircraft, Lee Herron, a project spokesman, was killed. The 1981 by Jerry Mullina, who flew a small BD-2 between woken Oklahoma City and Jacksonville, Fla., he said.
The plane broke also the record for unrefueled endurance, set in May 1981 by Walter Lee and Fred Brogsy. He flew for 84 hours and 32 minutes, he said.
The plane is made from lightweight material, has a 110-foot wingspan and carries 17 fuel tanks.
Voyager averaged 103.5 mph and got 29 miles per gallon of fuel, said its designer, Rutan's brother Burt. He had used the car for a flight from New York to Paris.
Senate confirms controversial nominee
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 63-33 yesterday to confirm President Reagan's controversial nomination of 'Terrence Scanlon as chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
In a press release distributed two hours before the Senate vote, Scanlon announced his confirmation and rejected as "sensational and baseless" Mr. Obama's plan to employ employees and equipment to promote the anti-abortion cause.
Consumer advocates also had argued that the conservative Democrat, who received a recess appointment to the post from Reagan in
December 1984, had demonstrated a lack of concern for product safety.
"I am pleased that the Senate has finally confirmed my nomination," Scanlon said in his premature press release. "In doing so, it has rejected sensational and baseless charges which have previously been thoroughly investigated by the General Accounting Office and the Department of Justice's public integrity section."
"I hope it goes down in history as
Sen. Paul Simon, D-III, a stunn-
 opponent of the nomination, inserted
the press release into the Congre-
sional record during the confirma-
tion.
one of those historic errors," Simon said.
Consumer activists charged that Scanlon used his government office to do work for an anti-abortion organization, that he passed secret information to firms under investigation by the commission and that he met improperly with a representative of the toy industry whose products have been under the scrutiny of the commission.
Simon contended that Scanlon had demonstrated a lack of concern for consumer safety, fighting almost all efforts to write mandatory standards
The Justice Department determined a criminal prosecution was not warranted.
for the manufacture of safe products.
"I look forward to devoting all of my energies to managing the commission as productively and efficiently," said Scott Anderson, nation's consumers. "Scanion said."
He also pledged to "continue to actively promote greater federal, state and local cooperative efforts in consumer protection, as well as the measures of voluntary sales standards to protect America's consumers."
Scanlon's appointment was held up in December when opponents blocked a vote on the Senate floor, arguing against a vote before completion of the Justice Department's investigation.
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